


bring you back home

by thchateaus



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Clueless Ellie (The Last of Us), Cunnilingus, F/F, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Gratuitous Smut, Miscommunication, Multiple Orgasms, Strangers to Lovers, cant forget that, sorry folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26764885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thchateaus/pseuds/thchateaus
Summary: abby and lev discover each other among the civil war of seattle and travel for jackson, abby and ellie discover each other in the middle of a blizzard, and joel didn't do the thing. neither does abby.OR: the one where good things are allowed to happen to abby and ellie.
Relationships: Abby & Lev (The Last of Us), Abby/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 161





	bring you back home

**Author's Note:**

> first of all. reality can be whatever i want and i have decided game canon is just not for me thanks
> 
> second, i really wanted to write something about these girls that wasn't heartbreakingly sad. thus, this fic was born. if you don't like it, that's fine, but know that any and all hate comments will be deleted so please save us all the effort and don't bother. we all ship different things and that's fine. cool? thanks
> 
> third, this is obviously canon divergence. abby is a firefly but she wasn't stationed in salt lake, joel doesn't die and everything in seattle has been remixed to have never included the jackson crew. because i say so.
> 
> the majority of this was written in the middle of the night so any typos will be fixed asap (probably tomorrow.) sorry for the bad smut bois but this was ENTIRELY self idulgent

This is fine, Ellie thinks.

It's fine. It's just a blizzard. It's not the first she’s dealt with on patrol, and it won’t be her last. She’ll be fine.

She lost Shimmer a while back, thrown off her back in fear at the wind.

But it's fine.

She knows that after they’d cleared the store that she and Dina were close to town, maybe a few miles out. She also knows that she’s lost. Like, beyond fucking lost.

It feels like she’s been searching for shelter for forever. She’d given up on any hope of picking up Dina’s trail, snow covering them almost immediately after she’d begun.

That’s the thing about being out of town, running on fumes, being on edge. It exhausts you. Fucks time up and stretches it into a circle. It's terrifying.

She’s decided on a derelict bus shelter before it gets darker. Arms tight around her frame, as if it’ll somehow make her jacket thicker, her blood run warmer.

But there’s no infected, no hunters, and the shelter’s only groaning a little.

Oh, Jesus, who is she kidding? She’s out of food, really regretting shoving that sandwich at Jesse, and her walkie is out of juice. She’s fucked.

It's when she settles back against the least rusted corner that she hears it. 

That unmistakable cry of a runner. No, several of them. It's like a collective cry of pain, those wails that sit heavy in her chest no matter how many times her blade has found their temples.

She stands, huffs out a breath as she pulls her hood over her head as far as she can.

The bang on the window behind her, the smash of the glass, has her pulling out her knife. She ducks for the inevitable rotting hand coming for her, thrashing teeth. Neither ever come.

Instead, there’s a gloved hand reaching out to her.

“Move it!” They hiss, a woman she thinks, and she doesn’t think twice about taking it and climbing out the back. 

“Horde’s right back there,” She heaves out, handing Ellie something. A fucking bandaid, she thinks, and she doesn’t have time to be confused. “Your cheek’s bleeding. My fault, sorry. There’s condos out here, right?”

“I don’t know,” Ellie shoves it in her pocket with shaking fingers, “If there are, it’ll be North. Just past the ski lodge.”

“North it is, then.”

The woman steps back, pulling Ellie by her wrist, and starts heading forward. 

* * *

She has no clue who this woman is or how she knew, but she’s right.

It's a strip of cabins that belong to the ski lodge, she thinks, too hard to make out through the snow. They’re going too fast regardless, the woman unrelenting as she drags Ellie along with her. She has no clue how she’s not exhausted by now, they’ve been running for like ten minutes, but she figures something about the clearly insulated coat and gloves has something to do with it.

“Any of those fuckers get you?”

Ellie would laugh if the situation wasn’t so dire.

“No,” She calls out above the howls that whip around their faces, kneeling to break the lock while the woman picks off the few stray runners that followed after them, persistent fuckers they are.

“Good,” She looks back to Ellie for a brief moment, dropping her gun to Ellie’s feet before stalking forward toward the stragglers.

Ellie peers over her shoulder, neck straining, to see her fist connect with a runner’s jaw before she pulls it's head down to her knee. Confident she’s got a hold on it, Ellie goes back to the lock.

It's the next dozen neither of them are accounting for.

“ _ Fuck! _ ” She hears between grunts, and Ellie’s already standing with the gun in one hand and her blade in the other. 

She catches the throat of one with her knife, the woman’s shoe connecting with it's chest and, finally, it's head. They go through the motions with surprising fluidity, not exactly back to back, but harmonious. 

She’d make a good patrol partner she thinks as they take down another stalker, and shakes off the thought as soon as it comes. She doesn’t fucking know this woman. She could be anyone.

But Tommy  _ did _ say they were open to new residents. And she’s obviously more than capable.

She doesn’t realise they’re done until the woman is taking back her gun from Ellie’s hold. 

“C’mon,” She says, breathless, stomping through the snow to the cabin. “Before more of the bastards are on us.”

That last click almost makes her cry in relief.

They waste no time rushing in and sealing the door and nearby window shut. Ellie moves to draw curtains over the glass that are more moldy than cotton, and turns around to the woman barricading the door with a table.

“How the fuck?” 

The woman glances her way with a breathless laugh, face flushed with the cold.

She pulls off her jacket, throwing it over the curtain pole above the window. “Could you get the generator?”

“Uh,” Ellie swallows at the sight of biceps that strain with exertion, glancing around for said generator.

The woman bites at a barely contained grin, “It's behind you. Like, right there. Big red thing? The thing with a bright yellow lever?”

“I knew that.”

She shrugs, hovering as Ellie tugs it on. She rubs at her arms, goose-pimpled and really fucking big and.. nope.  _ Not  _ going there, Ellie. 

“Sure you did.”

The generator rumbles a little before there’s fairy lights above them coming to life. It paints the place in a golden glow, something unfit for such circumstances, and the woman stares up at them for a moment with this wistful expression. One Ellie’s not meant to see.

The woman rubs her hands up her arms. “You see anyone else out there?” 

“You mean other than my horse that I lost? No.”

“Shit,” She hears her mutter to herself, teeth chattering. She turns to Ellie, then, “Hey, you think this place has a thermostat or something?”

Ellie shrugs, “Probably. Rich people before the outbreak came to places like this, right? I bet there’s, like, golden truffles hidden away.”

The woman barks a laugh.

“Probably. You did good out there,” She says, as casually as the way she pulls off her wet shirt, leaving just a tank.

Ellie feels overdressed.

“You too,” She shrugs, eyeing the open floor room they’re in for anything to get her warm, or dry.

“I know,” She grins, dipping past Ellie to head for the kitchen. “There better be something good in here.”

“Should be,” She shouldn’t even be thinking of telling this woman  _ anything _ . Joel would kill her. “These cabins used to be one of our safe points on patrol. Then we figured out just how many of the fuckers migrate up here, and, well. You saw how that goes.”

“Yeah,” The woman breathes out a laugh, head dipping in another, empty cupboard.

“Were you travelling with someone?”

Ellie’s not sure what compels her to ask, and the second it leaves her mouth, she’s antsy. Brimming with it. She shouldn’t let her guard down, no personal questions. She knew that. She’d been taught that, had it instilled by Jesse before every patrol just in case it went to shit. Joel had insisted on it since the day they met.

If Ellie’s questioning bothered her, she can’t see it on the woman’s face. She chews on her cheek as she rests back against the counter. “Yeah.”

Ellie nods. “Me too.”

Something in her eases, and she watches her jaw unclench. “I had a kid with me. About, uh, about twelve. We got separated by the horde.”

“I hope he’s alright,” Ellie chews on her thumbnail, “You’re pretty fucking capable, I’m sure he must be too if, y’know, he’s kept up with you being that young.”

“Yeah,” She huffs, corner of her mouth lifting, “Yeah, you’re right. I feel like the kid’s got his shit together more than me most days. He’ll be fine.”

“You were running away from the strip of houses by Jackson. We’re only a mile out, at best. I’m sure they found him.”

The woman doesn’t give a response, choosing to go back to scavenging for food. Ellie shrugs it off. She saw how fucked up Joel was even seeing a bloater get near Ellie. She couldn’t imagine it on such a scale like this.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” Ellie dips her head with a smile, stepping out and leaving her there in favour of finding anything that can get them warm. Hopefully a functioning shower. At the least, clothes not soaked through like hers or as threadbare as the stranger’s. She’s not asking for much.

This place is one of the old patrol stops before the ski lodge had been cleared out so there should be  _ something _ .

Gun cocked, she enters what looks to be the only bedroom, and releases a jittery sigh. 

It's clear of infected and people, though it looks like people had been staying here not that long ago. Makes sense, she supposes. A lot of people don’t make it through the mountains to Jackson. Hence, the herds.

The joining mudroom is picked clean but for a corner reserved for children’s toys. A couple are in the bedroom, too, hastily thrown about the carpet. The bed is made up too, some ugly, worn floral pattern. They clearly left in a hurry. Ellie refused to think about it as she kicked the toys under the bed.

There’s a pile of blankets thrown to the end of the bed stained with old blood. It's as she’s pulling them off and stringing them over the window that she hears footsteps coming down the short hall toward her.

Her hand goes to her blade in her pocket on instinct, before realising it's  _ not there _ . She must’ve dropped it out there. Awesome.

“I found some jerky in the kitchen, some of this shit too,” She holds up a bottle of wine, steps into the room with a tilt to her head. “You down?”

“I haven’t gotten to the garage yet, could be dangerous. And you wanna drink?” Ellie takes a strip of jerky anyway as she watches her set the bottle down.

“If there were any infected down there, they’d be frozen solid,” She huffs out as she’s pulling her backpack off. She lowers it to pull a flask out. Presents Ellie with it. “Felt a pretty bad draft coming up the stairs so I blocked off the hatch.”

The flask smells sweet, probably something like hot chocolate, and she has no idea where to start with that. Where the fuck does some random traveller find something as rare as that? Joel had had to trade half his carvings for a single can of coffee beans.

She knows she’s never seen her in Jackson or any surrounding communities before. She’d remember her face on trade runs. Right?

She’s got these sharp features, appropriate for her apparently sharper tongue, and she’s like. She’s fucking  _ built _ . And a head taller than Ellie, at least, now she can look at her properly.

She pours a little wine into the flask and takes a sip.

“Smart,” Ellie steps closer out of curiosity, holding out a hand for the flask. The woman cocks a brow.

“You done ogling me now?”

“I was just…” Her smirk grows, and a burst of embarrassment shoots through Ellie. She takes the drink from her hands, takes a mouthful as the woman watches. She’s surprised, actually, by how nice it is. Feels it thaw her out a little.

“Got it from a settlement on the border,” She takes it back, hand brushing over Ellie’s. She can’t take her eyes off of the bob of her throat. “So you’re from Jackson?”

Ellie shrugs, “Depends.”

“On what?”

“What business do you have with Jackson?”

“Long story. Shit went down at my old settlement, I got out in time with the kid. Didn’t look back. Heard about your place in the past, wanted to see if I could make it. Got past the border, got jumped by a horde and a blizzard.”

There’s more there, Ellie can tell. But something tells her not to pry. She doesn’t think she’d like the specifics.

“We don’t normally have that many around here in winter, they migrate in these crazy hordes.”

“Sheesh.”

The woman blows out a breath after downing the last of the drink. Her gaze slips a little to the side, her lips pursing.

“You’re bleeding pretty bad.”

Fuck, she’d forgotten with everything, outrunning then fighting parts of the horde. That adrenaline was still thrumming through her despite the cold that clung to her bones.

“I’m fine,” She looked back to the closet she hadn’t gotten a chance to check. Again, practically empty.

“Oh yeah, looks it,” She scoffs. “It's my fault. Let me help.”

She pulls off her backpack and jacket with a groan, soaked through now that the snow has had time to melt, and hands both up on the back of the desk chair. “Fine. One condition, though.”

“Shoot.”

“You tell me your name.”

She snorts, a brisk bark of something, as she leads Ellie to sit on the edge of the bed. She heads for the bathroom, and when Ellie hears water running, she hears her whooping. 

“It's fucking warm!” She calls from the room, a faint metallic clanging, before the water’s shut off again.

Ellie’s biting down on a grin when she spots her coming back with a bowl of water and some bottle from in there. Looks like antiseptic shit. Awesome.

“It's Abby,” She says as she lowers herself beside Ellie, careful with the water, “Lean your face toward the desk.”

She does so, wincing as the skin pulls.

Abby suits her, she thinks, this mystifying stranger. She could be anyone. But there’s something fascinating about her, something Ellie wants to unearth.

She watches Abby dip the cloth in the water, or rather, just her hands. They’re pretty fucking big, bigger than Ellie’s. They’d dwarfed Ellie’s when she’d pulled Ellie along in the snow earlier.

The water is hot on her face, a relief from the air that’s followed them in.

“Jesus, you’re freezing,” Abby mutters, dipping the cloth into the bowl again. The water bleeds red. “How long were you out there before I showed up?”

“No idea. Patrol started this morning. My, uh…” How did she sum up Dina? What  _ was _ she to Ellie? Sure, they’d kissed last night, but Dina had clarified it was a drunken fuck up. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about it. “My friend and I got separated when the blizzard kicked in.”

Abby hums, “Well, we’re gonna be stuck here for a while. Probably best you don’t die of hypothermia on my watch.”

“Sure, that’d really suck for you,” Ellie snorts, flinching when the antiseptic cream touches the wound. She bites down as Abby begins to spread it over the surface of the wound. Gently, she notes. Slow.

“Yeah,” Abby thumbs the edge of the cut, the sting quelling when she lets up pressure. “Can’t have a pretty girl dying on my conscience, can I?”

Ellie’s grin is easy, “Pretty? Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

Abby looks up as she lowers the bowl. “You got any alternatives?”

She shrugs, “I’ll keep you posted.”

Her head tilted, Abby smiles up at her. It kind of makes her stomach tighten. She fastens the lid to the antiseptic tube, wiping her hand off on her trousers. She tapes fresh gauze over the wound, feels about an inch or two long.

“Your face should be fine. It's not too deep.”

“Thanks,” Ellie catches Abby’s wrist. Runs her thumb over a single, deep line. White and jagged. “What happened here?”

Abby blinks, mouth tight for a moment, and Ellie’s sure she’s fucked up.

“We’re trading battle stories now?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” Ellie shrugs it off, tucks her leg underneath the other. 

She turns her arm over, exposing her tattoo. She watches Abby’s mouth upturn. “Burnt myself in Boston. My, uh, my ex covered it up. She did a pretty good job, huh?”

Abby’s hand hovers, an open question, and Ellie pushes her forearm to meet it. “ _ Yeah _ , she did. It's fucking pretty.”

Ellie snorts, grins up at her. Abby’s already watching her.

“You know, you didn’t keep your end of the bargain.”

Ellie swallows. “I.. wasn’t aware there was one.”

“You said I could help you if I told you my name,” Abby’s thumbing the burns, dwarfing the moth. She blames her goosebumps on Abby’s warmth. “I feel like I’m owed yours too. It's only fair. Right?”

“You’re not good at being subtle.”

Abby shrugs a shoulder, intact braid falling down it, and licks her lips. Ellie follows the movement, and if Abby’s smirk is anything to go off of, it was purposeful.

“Ellie,” She admits, heart pounding as she chews on her cheek, “Are we gonna stick to small talk?”

“What else would we be doing, Ellie?”

“You tell me, I’m just trying to stay out of the storm.”

Abby shakes her head, lips twitching. She squeezes Ellie’s arm before letting go, standing slowly. “I’m gonna shower. Don’t try and steal my shit. I’ll know.”

That shakes her out of it. The water must be limited as it is, there’s no fucking way it’ll stay warm or plentiful long enough for Ellie even if it had been restocked by whoever was last here on patrol.

“What the hell am I meant to do?”

Abby hums in the process of undoing her braid, looking back her way. “You could always join me.”

How the fuck was she meant to reply to that?

She shuffled back, back of her knees to the edge of the bed. There’s a kind of half laugh that escapes her, then, of disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Why not?” Abby pulls off her tank, leaving her shirtless. Ellie inhales at the sight of her, that build, and all reasonable thought flies out into that fucking storm.

“Do you, uh, you just mean a shower?”

Abby pulls a face, amused, “Do you  _ want  _ me to just mean a shower?”

Ellie feels lightheaded. Did she mean what she thought she meant? Did she fucking want that? Jesus, her best friend had kissed her last night. She’d lost her in the storm. But at this moment, she couldn’t care less.

Dina was probably fine. She knew the neighbouring towns better than Ellie. She  _ was _ fine.

And Ellie was going nowhere. She may as well enjoy herself, right?

“I don’t.”

“Okay,” Abby steps close, towering over her, and brings her hand to Ellie’s uninjured cheek. She thumbs over the flesh, leaves Ellie feeling antsy as she clambers onto the bed, knees either side of Ellie’s thighs. “You coming?”

“Yeah,” She says, a little dreamily as Abby’s mouth hovers over her throat. 

“You gonna shower with all these clothes on?” 

Ellie rolls her eyes in spite of the tension, “Your game’s so fucking bad.”

Ellie feels Abby’s laugh against her skin, vibrating through her before Abby’s pressing an open kiss to a pressure point. She displays an  _ awful _ lot of willpower, thank you very much, when she doesn’t cave at that. Instead, she tilts her head back for better access.

With Abby above her, on top of her, she finds herself entrapped. She doesn’t really mind, not when there’s a hand sliding up underneath her hoodie. Flush, she lifts her arms, Abby pulling the clothing off with little trouble at all. She figures the cold isn’t that big of an issue anymore.

She sits back, suddenly amused. Ellie’s about to question it, words on her tongue, before Abby’s picking at her sleepshirt. 

“If there’s another layer under this I’m gonna fucking lose it,” She  _ pouts,  _ and Ellie can’t help but laugh. Abby breaks face and laughs too, dipping her head to hide in Ellie’s shoulder. 

“Nothing else,” It recedes into chuckles, a grin mirrored by Abby, and she leans back to pull her tee over her head. “See?”

Abby makes a noise of appreciation, hands going to Ellie’s abdomen. They span the width of it easily, and isn’t  _ that _ a fucking sight. One settles on her hip, the other tracing up her body until it reaches her nape.

There’s this unspoken question, between Abby’s flickering gaze between her eyes and mouth, and the face dipping closer to hers.

“Yeah,” Ellie says anyway, nudging upward and hovering over Abby’s lips. The answering, wistful groan makes her throb between her legs, and all willpower is thrown out of the window into that storm.

Abby kisses her with a level of restraint she wasn’t expecting. It's slow,  _ so _ fucking slow, and makes her tremble with it. Abby surrounds her; loose blonde curls skirting her stomach, the hand tight at her waistband, the tongue pushing into her mouth.

Ellie twists, shuffles back onto the bed and out of Abby’s grip. She watches Abby fumble after her, can’t help but laugh, and rests back on her hand. She unbuttons and kicks off her jeans. The thrill of this, the heat that courses through her when Abby narrows in on her, warms her more than any shower could.

Abby crawls over her, mouth hovering over Ellie’s as her hand strays up her throat and into her hair. It tangles in it, still damp from the snow.

“You’ve got blood in your hair,” She says passively, like she’s not got a thick thigh between Ellie’s or another hand parting them.

“Don’t care,” Ellie mutters,  _ greedy _ , and grabs at Abby’s shoulder blade. Digs in blunt nails, wastes no time in kissing her again. 

Abby laughs into it, lets it stay open-mouthed as she strokes a hand up Ellie’s thigh, lazy and practiced.

“What do you wanna do?” She asks, like it's that simple, and maybe it  _ is _ . Something about this is easy. There’s no fear nor expectations of her here.

“I don’t know,” She mumbles anyway, thumbing a ridged scar on Abby’s cheek. 

Abby leans in to kiss her again, tongue pressing in her mouth, and Ellie’s reacting almost instantly. She lets herself touch Abby with minimal freaking out, exploring soft, freckled skin and firm muscle.

With her hands finding purchase on Abby’s shoulders, she pulls her closer, more on top of her. Abby hums, fingers burning where they skirt Ellie’s inner thigh. Something in her burns then, and any attempt of casualty is gone.

She whines when Abby pulls away to mouth at her jaw, lazy and languid. At the same time, the hand on her thigh grows higher, higher, higher until it's meeting her briefs. 

Abby teases the waistband, palm resting against her core through the material. She swallows hard, throbbing as Abby presses down ever so gently, and lays her own hand on the back of Abby’s. Keeps it there. 

“You definitely want this? You could go shower right now, avoid me until the storm eases and I won’t say shit.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ellie leans up on her elbows, exasperated. She bucks up against the palm, the pressure incredible. Lights her nerves up and sets her aflame. 

Abby presses down harder, watching Ellie intently with black eyes, her thumb circling the sensitive area between her clit and hole through the cotton.

“Last chance.”

Ellie squirms as Abby dips further, only cotton separating her digits and Ellie. “ _ Yes _ . Yes, I fucking want this.”

“Good,” Abby bites at her lip before tugging down Ellie’s briefs. She sits back enough for Ellie to kick them off, legs uncoordinated, and then.

Then she’s making her way down Ellie’s body, pressing kisses at random points, before she’s at the point where her hip and thigh meet. There’s a nip of teeth, smoothed over with a wet, hot tongue.

Flush and turned on like hell, Ellie brings her hands to Abby’s hair. “Are you gonna fuck me or not?”

“Somebody’s eager,” Abby breathes over her, looks back up at Ellie with bright eyes, and dips between her thighs.

Ellie parts them by proxy, with Abby’s hands already on them, and shivers at the harsh breathing that hits her at her center. She struggles to lift herself to her elbows, wishing to see Abby properly.

There’s a wet stripe across her, a firm press against her clit, and Ellie squeezes her eyes shut. Abby continues, tongue working over her in soft, circular motions. Soft enough that it's featherlight, barely hitting her, and a groan is drawn out of her.

“More,” She pleads, feels laid out on an altar as opposed to grubby sheets as Abby presses inside her. She pulls out almost as soon as she’d entered her, leaving her empty. She presses her tongue flat against Ellie’s clit before returning to circular motions. She throbs with it, stomach turning, and her back arches.

Her thoughts go to Abby’s fingers as she lay there, at the mercy of her tongue, and aches at the thought of them inside her. They’re thick where they grip Ellie’s thighs, holding them apart, and span most of her thigh. She wants it.

“Your fingers,” She grunts, heart jumping as Abby pauses. “I want you inside me. If that’s okay.”

She catches Abby’s smile before rubbing at her shoulder with her face, attempting to push sweaty hair from it, and shakes at the sudden digit at her entrance.

“ _ Holy fuck _ ,” She pants, a warning. A warning for her not to quit, to bury it inside her, to go faster. For anything.

Abby lifts her head, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “Better?”

Abby’s high up enough that Ellie can see her gaze fixate on Ellie’s. Her thumb traces her entrance, threatening to dip inside, before she settles it on her clit. All the while, following Ellie’s every expression.

Ellie’s shiver ripples through her body, goosebumps rising on her skin, and Abby’s lips twitch in another smile. It's predatory, like a beast approaching it's prey, and Ellie can’t look away. Her chest heaves with exertion already, sweat pooling between her breasts, and she grinds up into Abby’s digit.

It's not enough friction, she can barely reach any semblance of pleasure by herself, and she groans. Reaches a hand into Abby’s curls again, stomach tightening as Abby moans.

Abby resumes stroking her with two digits in replacement of her thumb, dipping back in to taste her with a pleased hum. A whine is punched out of Ellie, at mercy of her tongue and fingers.

Hitched sighs bleed into a continuous pant as Abby strokes her and licks at her entrance with unforgiving speed. Ellie’s shaking with it, pulled taut and body tingling as she edges closer to a release.

“How are you so…” She pauses, hand in Abby’s hair tugging again. She tightens her thighs around her head, finding enough leverage to thrust up against her mouth. “How the fuck are you so good at this?”

Abby breaks away long enough to laugh, vibrating against Ellie’s core. The ache is uncontainable at this point, and Ellie’s desperate to chase it. It's as she does, shaking and so close to tipping over the edge, that she stills with a heaving breath.

“Hang on. Hang on a sec.”

Abby pauses, lifts her head as she licks her lips. Ellie nearly comes right there at the sight of it.

“Are you okay?”

Ellie strokes through her hair, as slick with sweat as Ellie’s. Abby’s patience pulls her out of it a little, it's sweet and mindful of her, and Ellie can’t help but flush at it.

“I just.. um. What about you?”

Abby’s visibly taken aback by that, though she recovers quickly. She resumes circling Ellie’s clit as she crawls up her body to kiss at her jaw. 

“Not a problem, trust me.”

Ellie frowns, sliding her arm around Abby’s neck to pull her closer. The kiss is frivolous and lazy, contrasting the quick flicks of Abby’s wrist. 

“Still.”

Abby’s eyes narrow before she moves to kiss Ellie.

It's weird, to be kissing her and tasting herself, but she doesn’t dwell on it. Can’t. Not when Abby’s sliding two fingers inside her and curving them upward at the same moment she sucks on Ellie’s lip.

Ellie’s own mouth falls open with a cry, jaw lax as Abby’s mouth leaves hers and finds it.

“Let go,” Abby whispers at the shell of her ear, the tip of her digits hitting a spot inside Ellie over and over that makes her tremble. 

Something in her snaps like a bowstring. Drunk on the feeling of Abby on top of her, inside her, she can’t hold it back any longer. Her composure collapses the second fingers curve inside her again. She falls back against the comforter, hands twisted in Abby’s hair and shakes as she comes.

Ellie whimpers through it, uncaring as she rides out the pleasure Abby’s all too willing to provide, not letting up her pace inside her. She realises she can no longer feel a pressure on her core, hasn’t for a while, and she forces her eyes open to see Abby with a hand between her own legs.

“Holy fuck,” The groan feels punched out of her, throat hoarse, and she pulls herself up onto shaky elbows to watch her. “Jesus, you were getting off on that?”

“Yeah,” Abby’s voice is low as she strokes herself, propped up on her side. “That was so fucking hot.”

Ellie, still throbbing with the aftershocks and mind hazy with it, knocks Abby’s hand away. She frowns in response to Ellie pressing her down into the sheets.

“Let me,” Ellie clears her throat.

She reaches down, unsure, and presses the heel of her palm against Abby’s clit.

“You don’t have to,” Abby rolls her hips up against her anyway, hands finding Ellie’s waist. They dwarf her figure, one larger than the both of Ellie’s.

“I want to,” Ellie admits with a smile.

Abby reflects it, her apparent shyness a foreign look on her face, the square of her shoulders oddest of all.

“I just…” Abby tightens her hands on Ellie’s hips. “I’ve only really been with guys. And it's never… not like this. I don’t know how to just, uh.”

“Oh,” Ellie bites her lip in an attempt at hiding a smile. “You won’t be faking anything.”

That has Abby raising her eyebrows, mouth cocked. “Someone’s awfully full of themself.”

“I’ve had no complaints in the past,” She says, even though her only past experiences with Cat could be counted on one hand, and Abby snorts.

Abby’s laugh cuts off with a groan as Ellie grinds the heel of her palm down onto her, a slender finger teasing her hole. She’s so wet, so ready for it, that it slides in with little friction. Abby hisses, and Ellie grins from above her.

“Je- _ sus _ ,” She draws out, any semblance of confidence having collapsed, and it has Ellie throbbing. 

She sticks to a rapid motion, thrusting her digit in far enough to skirt the same spot that had had Ellie trembling if Abby’s slack jaw and her panting indicate anything. 

“I wanted to fuck you since I caught you watching me out there,” Abby admits as her eyes flutter shut, and Ellie’s fingers twitch inside her.

“I’m glad you did,” Ellie says, continuing with her ministrations as she leans in to press her mouth against Abby’s. “You close?”

“Uh-huh,” Abby nods, eyelids heavy. She grinds up into Ellie’s grip, tightens around her finger. “Another. C’mon.”

Ellie teases a second digit on par with the first, breaching Abby’s walls as Abby whines through it. That kind of heat around her has Ellie herself throbbing again, much more intense the second time around, and she clambers up onto Abby’s thigh.

“Oh my God,” Abby grunts, drawn out, when she realises Ellie’s grinding down on her. Her hands squeeze hard enough at Ellie’s hips that it should hurt. “Jesus,  _ fuck _ .”

Ellie’s breath catches and stalls as she moves in time with Abby’s thrusts to meet her fingers, and her head falls back.

“Good?” Ellie swallows, catches Abby’s glazed eyes.

“You fucking serious?” Abby laughs around a gasp as Ellie’s fingers crook inside her again. “I’m gonna-”

She  _ feels _ Abby come around her, watches intently as her mouth opens in a silent cry. It's so fucking hot that it topples Ellie over too, a sudden orgasm hitting her, and she rides it out on the hard plain of Abby’s thigh.

Abby comes to her senses pretty fast, her hands stroking up and down Ellie’s spine. They’re both hot, sweat clinging to both their bodies, and Ellie feels too worn out to give a shit.

Still panting, she flops down onto the sheets beside Abby, pressing her face into the pillow.

“So,” Ellie lays back properly against the comforter, barely catching her breath. “Shower?”

Abby shakes her head, arm thrown over her eyes. Voice hoarse, she turns her face on the opposite pillow to speak. “My legs feel like jello.”

Ellie grunts her agreement. She pushes her hair back, catching Abby watching her. Weirdly, it's that that makes her feel the most shy she has all day.

Abby pulls herself up into a seated position, tying her hair into a shitty bun. “I was  _ not _ expecting this to happen when I spotted you at that bus stop.”

Ellie’s grin is wide as she crawls to the end of the bed, legs still shaking, and holds out her hand. Abby raises a lazy brow, lips pressed together. “You actually want me to join you?”

Ellie narrows her eyes, shuffling on the carpet. “You just had your tongue inside me and you’re worried about sharing a shower?”

“Fair point,” Abby clambers off of the bed, taking and dropping Ellie’s hand as soon as she stands. Her hands press together in front of Ellie as she looks away to the snow smattering the window. If Ellie didn’t know any better, she would think Abby was  _ nervous _ .

“You don’t have to,” Ellie mumbles, scratching at her nape out of habit. “You can go after me.”

“No,” Abby says, considerably softer, and steps close to Ellie. She sighs, “It's just weird. I don’t… I was planning on joining Jackson anyway. Mostly because I want the kid safe, and I don’t want to make you, y’know, uncomfortable. Having to see me, after this.”

“Too late for that,” Ellie jokes, “They’ll be happy to have you. And I’d, uh. I’d like to still see you. Besides, you’re  _ sick _ against runners, I’d kill to have you on patrol with me.”

“You’re sweet,” Abby smiles before pressing her lips to Ellie’s jaw. 

Ellie tilts her head back, exposing her throat to her. Abby kisses up it lazily, teeth catching on her lobe and forcing out a whine from Ellie. She sways into Abby, presses herself against a wall of muscle, and pushes her back against the desk.

She hums, Abby nipping at her collarbone, and feels that distant, aching throb burn away in her gut again. She grinds lazily into the hard plane of Abby’s thigh, the muscle constricting with her heat, and Abby grunts.

“Shower,” Abby breathes in her ear, amused. “Your idea, remember?”

With that, she sidesteps Ellie, and makes her way toward the bathroom. She stops at the doorway, reminiscent of earlier, and Ellie’s gaze catches on the half-circle indentations on her arms.

“Well?”

Ellie huffs a laugh, following after her.

The bathroom’s fucking nice, even with the ivy growing up the window Abby must’ve slammed shut earlier. It's the kind she knows people back at Jackson would trade weeks of farming duty for.

Abby switches on the thing, heat immediately steaming up the glass. 

Ellie steps in first, a groan pushing out of her at the heat on her scalp. Abby makes her way in a second later, reaction similar.

“Fuck, this is nice,” She grins under the spray, rivlets making their way down her face. 

“I wasn’t expecting it to be this hot,” Ellie agrees, tipping her head back with a laugh. “Showers in Jackson are  _ not _ this good. You’d be lucky to get a minute of hot water. Still wanna come back with me?”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Abby chuckles with her eyes shut, facing the spray directly. She’s kind of beautiful, Ellie thinks, and doesn’t look away.

* * *

It's when they’re cross-legged opposite each other on the couch the following morning, fire crackling as they split strips of jerky as evenly as they can, that Ellie notices the snow stilling. 

“Your town,” Abby brings up as she chews, puffy jacket pulled tight around her, “There a lot of kids there?”

“Yeah, a bunch. There’s a school, a library. He’ll be fine, I swear.”

“I hope so,” Abby nods to herself, “He’s not like most kids his age. He, uh. He grew up in a cult.”

Ellie doesn’t question what happened to them or his family. She’s got a pretty good guess as to what the answer would be.

“You don’t need to worry about him fitting in. I’d been on the road for months when I got there. I… was fucked up as a kid. But they welcomed me in like it was nothing, you know? They didn’t ask a lot.”

Abby watches her as she eats, the slightest crease between her brows. She’s after more than the surface story. Ellie almost wished she could tell it. But Joel had made that off limits no matter what for a reason, she knew that.

“That sounds awful nice,” Abby thankfully settles on, a small smile gracing her face, “After everything, I could do with something like that. Lev could more.”

“Sounds like he’s lucky to have you,” Ellie comments, and Abby looks away.

“He saved me. Literally and figuratively, you know. I owe him a lot more than he does me.”

“You got him all the way here, wherever you came from. That’s pretty fucking awesome of you.”

“Maybe,” Abby blows out a breath, “We travelled from Seattle.”

“Pretty far for one town,” Ellie nudges her leg with a socked foot.

“Yeah, well, you’d be surprised how many people knew of it.”

Ellie isn’t sure how to feel about that or the pit in her stomach. That’s not exactly a good thing, being so exposed to outer forces.

“Huh,” She says, adding nothing to the situation as she peers across to the window. Sunlight peers through it, dim enough that she can actually watch out for the snow. There isn’t any. “Hey, look. It's stopped.”

“Holy shit,” Abby lowers the packet of jerky to stand. “You think it's too early for your people to be looking for you? And your friend?”

Knowing Joel and Tommy, they’re probably already halfway to the nearest town.

Ellie regards herself and Abby. They’re both already fully dressed and bundled up, Abby in her gear from yesterday and Ellie the same with the addition of the coat she’d managed to scavenge from the basement. 

“We could head out for the nearest patrol route, try to find them,” She suggests, toeing on her sneakers anyway. “It can’t hurt.”

It takes Abby all of a second to agree, reaching back for the jerky to shove the rest in her mouth. She throws her bag over her shoulder. “Sure.”

“That’s it?” Ellie tips her head in curiosity, lifting her own backpack over her shoulder. 

“Yeah,” Abby shrugs, zipping up her jacket. She steps close, and Ellie grows flustered. Abby pulls something out of a pocket in her bag, and presses Ellie’s knife into her hand. “I wasn’t… I wasn’t sure, at first. Had to be careful.”

“I get it,” Ellie swallows, and she does. Being anything but constantly on guard got you killed. She had barely trusted her at first, either. She pockets the blade. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Abby’s smile is born of relief, and she heads for the door first. Watching her tug and lift the table has Ellie remscient of yesterday, and she stands idle with the thought of what’d occurred after. 

They hadn’t spoken about it, instead choosing to share the bed without question and falling asleep almost immediately after showering. Sharing body heat was the safest bet, anyway, even if it had meant Ellie had woken up with a mouth on her neck and hand between her legs.

Still, they hadn’t spoken of it after, and Ellie didn’t really mind that much.

“Lead the way,” Abby interrupts her train of thought, holding the door open with a shiver. 

“Thanks,” She says again, useless, and passes by her. She can’t think about the muscles under those sleeves or how they ripped under Ellie. She can’t.

They get past the cabins easily enough, the snow pretty deep but more of a nuisance than a danger. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of black ice when they make it to the road either, though the shelter is full of frost. 

Littered with dead infected too.

“Thank fuck you didn’t stay here,” Abby grins back at her, cheeks red in the cold, and Ellie laughs openly. It spills over into Abby chuckling, and they huddle there and count the dead wordlessly.

“Sixteen,” Ellie concedes, blowing hot air into her bare hands cupped together. “Patrol must’ve caught them.”

Abby frowns. “So do we wait for them?”

“I don’t know,” Ellie purses her lips, “I didn’t really think this far.”

Abby, amused, turns away to grin. She says something quiet enough that Ellie can’t hear her, and gestures loosely in her direction. “Should we make our own way down?”

“Guess so? If patrol’s already been through here then there’s no point-”

The call of voices interrupts her, and she sees Japan before any human at all.

“Thank God,” Abby whispers beside her, a journey of disbelief and relief travelling her face, and she watches her sprint forward. 

She catches sight of Dina and Jesse before the kid Abby’s referencing, and she could cry with sudden repose.

Dina doesn’t wait for Japan or Shimmer to still before she’s running for Ellie and pulling her into a hug. Jesse isn’t far behind, though the most he gives is a hand on her shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have sent either of you out there,” Jesse says by way of apology and Ellie shakes her head.

“Is Joel okay?”

Dina laughs, her grip tight, “Oh, he’s fine. He lost his mind when I got back to Jackson without you. He insisted we go find you in the middle of the night.”

“What?”

“Maria convinced him sending us out at first light was more ideal,” Jesse gives a smile, looking back at the horses. Ellie does too, and spots Abby crouched in the snow with someone in her arms. Lev, she gathers. Dina  _ had _ found him.

“Found him shivering half to the death near the supermarket,” Dina comments, like she’d read her mind. She goes to take Ellie’s hand and Ellie drops it. She couldn’t explain or look Dina directly in the face.

“Poor kid,” She sighs, “I’m glad you’re okay. I was really worried.”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Dina says, “Who’s this?”

She realises Abby and Lev are heading over with the horses, and something in her stomach pulls.

“Um,” She can’t comprehend the guilt. She hadn’t done anything wrong. But it sure felt like it. “Well, this is Abby. She kind of saved my life yesterday.”

Abby looks between them and her grin fizzles out. “We held out in a cabin up North. It was nice."

Lev groans, rubbing his arms as he does, and Ellie quickly notices his lack of winter gear. A jacket as thick as Ellie’s hoodie, maybe. They must’ve left Seattle in a hurry if that’s all he had, Ellie thinks.

“Sure,” Jesse says, squeezing Ellie’s shoulder again before he heads for Shimmer. “How abouts we get you back home and take these fine people back with us? I got a feelin’ Tommy’s gonna like you.”

“Was that meant to be a compliment?” Abby faux whispers, falling in line with Ellie as the five of them begin their trek down the road. 

Ellie catches her eye, unable to control the twitch of her lips, “What he means is you’ll be welcome back there. And Tommy’s been looking for serious help renovating, among other things. We’re expanding the town. He means well.”

Abby grins, nudging Lev with her elbow. “Hey, how’s that sound? Needed for good things. An actual, safe place.”

“Haven,” Lev mutters to himself, before regarding Ellie with a narrowed brow. “Do you like it there?”

“It's my home, yeah. Sure I do.”

That answer seems to satisfy Lev, who ditches them for the closest horse. Dina helps him up before clambering on herself, reins already in hand. They take off down the road, and Jesse pauses for them.

“Shimmer doesn’t much like me,” He mutters, and turns back to Ellie and Abby. “You comin’?”

“Last chance,” Ellie mirrors Abby from yesterday, who flits from Jesse and Ellie out of disbelief. 

She lets her actions replace speech, and tugs Ellie toward Jesse and the horse. She lets Ellie clamber on first. Ellie takes the reins despite Jesse being in front of her. 

Abby wraps her arms around her as Shimmer kicks into gear.

“This mean I get to call you my hot neighbour now?”

Ellie can’t resist the bark of laughter. 

“Shut the fuck up.”


End file.
